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Blog Posts and Lists
Thursday, June 30, 2011
The Sound of Nonfiction
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Creating a Buzz for "Saving Audie"
When my editor contacted me to ask if I'd like to write a book about one of the pit bulls rescued from the Michael Vick dog fighting operation, I hesitated at first. Did I want to learn the details of this canine nightmare? I had purposely not read the articles in the newspaper about it because I feel so strongly connected with animals. But then I decided that the story needed to be told because many of these dogs had been taken in by caring people who knew how to help them heal thru love and education.
After finding Linda, who had fallen in love with Audie while fostering him, my photographer Bill Muñoz and I flew to the San Francisco Bay Area for a whirlwind visit to get to know Audie and Linda and to see BAD RAP (Bay Area Dog Owners Responsible About Pit Bulls), the organization that had been instrumental in the Vick dog rescue, in action. I had never developed an aversion to pit bulls, and my experiences in California confirmed my belief that a dog is a dog--with few exceptions, the love and training a dog receives are what make it well behaved around people and other dogs, not the breed it belongs to. BAD RAP provides obedience training for pit bull type dogs every Saturday morning. The classes are very popular and have waiting lists. I saw perhaps 75 dogs that day, and heard not one growl or snarl.
Once our book was in production, Bill and I decided we'd seek out whatever means we could think of to publicize it. We knew from personal experience that publishers today rarely do more than send out books for review, so it was up to us to let the world know about our book.
We set up a website and Face Book page for Audie. The latter has been especially rewarding, as we've "met" new friends such as Cherry, a Vick dog who looks almost exactly like Audie. We've also gotten about 2,000 friends and many heartening posts from dog lovers as far away as New Zealand.
I made sure I said "yes" when asked if I'd write a guest blog post or agree to an interview about the book. I'm in the children's writers' group on Linked In and volunteered for an interview through that connection. Another guest blog post came from a Writers' Digest blogger. Publisher's Weekly interviewed me, Bill, and our editor, Emily Easton, for an especially nice article in their online newsletter. I've sent emails to animal rescue organizations about the book, quoting its favorable review in Publisher's Weekly, and after I made the suggestion, my publisher paid for a targeted email ad from Ink Think Tank.
Bill made a trailer for the book, posted it on YouTube and made sure it was linked on the publisher's website. We also did our best to create links to and from the sites we had included.
I don't know how much all these efforts will contribute to book sales, and there is really no way to find out, but these days writers have to pony up and be creative about how to get their books "out there." Most books will have some kind of connection to the world--organizations, clubs, websites, National Parks or Monuments--use your imagination to find the people who will want your book. You will never know how much your efforts help sales, but your own life will be enriched by the discoveries you make in the process.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Wondering About Words
Teaching ESL students this year, I had to constantly think and double think about word choices and the power of which word we choose. "I'll go for a walk alone" has a much different feeling to it than "I'll go for a walk by myself." While both might be correct for a given situation, the former implies a sense of solitude, and perhaps isolation, than the latter doesn't. Does the subtle difference really matter? Is it even clearly evident? How far should one go in trying to explore the differences and when is it OK to just say, "either one is fine"?
Here's another interesting example that came up in class. "My daughter is afraid of the darkness," one student wrote. I edited it to "my daughter is afraid of the dark." But when do we use darkness, she asked. Can you believe the best example I could come up with on the spur of the moment was Springsteen's "Darkness on the Edge of Town." I might not have explained it well but perhaps I initiated a new Bruce fan.
I also spent an abundance of time this school year reading college essays and editing with a fine toothcomb. It turns out, the most important skill a teenager can have when applying to college is having a way with words in nonfiction. You have to be able to write about yourself and express a sense of who you are, preferably in 500 words or less. These words not only matter, they can literally change the direction of your life. Any college wannabes who had previously enjoyed a good nonfiction biography or memoir, certainly had a leg up in understanding how to create a mood, feeling, and image of the writer with their own words.
Most of all, we waited with my daughter to hear the words about her future. Although some of the letters said, "I'm sorry to tell you" there were also a couple of "big envelopes" that said "We're happy to inform you" in our mailbox. But the wait for the one word from the one place she wanted to hear from continued. In the end, it was an email from an admissions officer that said, "you definitely still have a chance" that made me feel the full power of one's choice of words. I knew "definitely" was not bandied about lightly and thus that one word filled us with hope. Two weeks later, I was thrilled but no longer that surprised when my daughter happily received the one letter she had been hoping for that began, "Congratulations!"
Know any kids interested in exploring words this summer? My supremely talented friend is running an amazing on line workshop called PLAY ON WORDS for kids ages 10-17 and it includes writing memoirs! And I will continue to help students find the right words to display their awesomeness in college admissions essays, so if you know any rising seniors that need help with this all important nonfiction writing, please send me an email (see address in the sidebar).
Monday, June 27, 2011
Lightweight Summertime Musings
Happy summer, everyone!
Friday, June 24, 2011
☼ Summer is for Nonfiction Reading
Summer is now officially upon us.
It's time for playing in swimming pools, and catching lightning bugs.
It's time for family vacations and summer camps.
It's time for popsicles and s'mores.
But, hopefully for our children, it's not time for the… Summer Slide.
Best described by President Barack Obama, in his proclamation for National Summer Learning Day in 2009, Obama said, "A child who takes long breaks from learning can face academic setbacks. This problem is especially prominent during the summer, when students may lose more than two months of progress."
In a 2002 report from Johns Hopkins Center for Summer Learning, they outlined, "A conservative estimate of lost instructional time is approximately two months or roughly 22 percent of the school year...It's common for teachers to spend at least a month re-teaching material students have forgotten over the summer. That month of re-teaching could have been spent on teaching new information and skills."
One highly recommended way to help avoid the Summer Slide is summer reading, fiction AND nonfiction.
This past month at Weber State University at the first day of a two-day conference for educators, the 27th annual Reading and Writing Conference, Terrell A. Young, a literacy education professor at Washington State University, further explained the benefits of nonfiction reading. Young said, "Children who are mainly nonfiction readers will do well reading fiction, but fiction readers will not do as well reading nonfiction." Some examples of how reading nonfiction benefits the student includes: helps in learning to decode such visual clues as charts, graphs, diagrams, sidebars with specialized information and even the meaning of parentheses, learning to use an index and glossary, and learning that bold or italic words in text are of greater significance.
Don't know about you, but I was so excited by all the support for Nonfiction books. While researching online, I found many libraries and schools, from around the country, with recommended summer books lists that contained a 50/50 ratio of fiction and nonfiction.
Let's hear a huge "YAY" for Interesting Nonfiction books for Kids!
And, while we're talking about nonfiction reading for this summer, I have to mention magazines for kids. Well, actually, I have to point out only one magazine: the July/August 2011 issue of Appleseeds (Carus) Magazine ~ "Let's Play!"
Consulting Editor: Anna M. Lewis
"10 Ways to Play with Nothing but Your Imagination" by Anna M. Lewis
*I just got these delivered by the UPS guy, so I had to announce.
So, as we set off to enjoy this summer, Let's Play. And, I wish to you and your families lots of swinging on swings and sliding on slides – the playground kind, of course.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
The Truthiness Tour—the Movies; Again
For anyone who reads my blog entries, it won't come as any surprise that I am usually treading the purist line of nonfiction. Don't make anything up, ever. But this "based on" the lives of real people issue in the movies is complex. Some of it even has to do with rights. For example, I recently learned from my friend that there are varying degrees of situations in which a writer either needs to, or does not need to, secure a person's life rights. If it's a public figure, and it is long enough ago, it is considered public domain. But the length of time does not necessarily matter if it is a private figure (such as a specific hero or heroine in a story who is not well known). Interesting, right?
Now I find myself thinking about all kinds of distracting things while watching films such as The Aviator, The Conspirator, The King's Speech, The Blind Side, and the list goes on. Wikipedia tags The Blind Side as "semi-biographical," in fact. I didn't even know that was a category! If all the facts about the family in The Blind Side were known, would the story have come across in the same way? Maybe, maybe not.
I wrote a lot about the Fine, Fine Line of truth in nonfiction books in my recent Horn Book article. But in the movies, that line seems not to be so fine at all…and people seem fine with it. I wonder why that is?
My filmmaker friend believes it may be because the truth isn't dramatic enough for a blockbuster movie. I argue with him about this, of course, but his points have at least made me not be as stubbornly rooted (momentarily). For example, I said to him, why did The King's Speech need to make Churchill appear against King Edward's relationship with Wallis Simpson when in fact Churchill was fine with it? More dramatic, my friend said. Perhaps, I replied. But why not just leave that bit out and leave well enough alone, I pushed. He ventured a guess about people being hesitant to expose the flaws of giants such as Churchill, which might have been distracting to the main thrust of the film. Again, that may be. But why twist history?
I have some more thinking to do about this, it seems. My opinions hold fast when it comes to truth in nonfiction books, but perhaps this movie thing is too slippery for me. Or just slippery enough. I certainly enjoy watching these "based on" movies, but I can't help feeling duped once I discover which facts have been altered to fit the script. Where do you stand?
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Nadav's Favorite Books
Linda Salzman took us on a tour of her high school daughter's favorite nonfiction books a few weeks ago. I'm visiting my niece and her family in Brooklyn, and browsed through her children's books, helped by eight-year-old Nadav. He's reading Harry Potter, Book Five at the moment, and that's his favorite book series. But nonfiction has its place in his library too.
Out of a big pile, he chose six favorites and when I asked him to choose his very favorite, he said "That's super hard." But he finally decided that Oceanology came to the top of the list. We talked about how some books are part fiction and part nonfiction, about how the story of the Nautilus was part of an old novel, 20,000 Leagues under the Sea. He likes this book best, because it is an adventure. Most of the books he likes are adventures. But he also reads all the sidebars, footnotes, and little flaps in Oceanology that tell him the true stories about navigating instruments, a history of diving, giants of the deep, and about Charles Darwin "who told us about evolution."
Second favorite is the Magic Treehouse series, fiction with a lot of history in it. He has read dozens of those and likes them because they are adventures and he learns about lots of different times and places.
The Amazing Books about Questions and Answers by John Guest is another favorite because "it has tons of facts about everything." He doesn't look for answers to specific question, but opens the book to read about all kinds of things. He likes reading about plants.
In the DK Book, Planet Earth: one million things by John Woodward, Nadav's like to read about geodes, minerals, and caves. "I like how it tells how crystals form." He wants to be a scientist and an archaeologist when he grows up.
Polar Bear Math: Learning about Fractions from Klondike and Snow is on the pile of favorites too. He hasn't done the math in the book yet, but likes the pictures of polar bears. Reading is his favorite subjects in school, but math is second. He is going into third grade and has already learned about fractions.
Finally, The Everything Kids' Science Experiments Book by Tom Robinson is in the pile. Nadav's favorite experiment has been making a volcano with baking soda, vinegar, dishing washing soap, and red food coloring.
Nadav has written lots of poems (favorite is an acrostic,) and stories. If he were to write a nonfiction book, he'd write about dinosaurs. He read a great book at school called Dinosaurs, with lots of pictures of dinosaur skeletons. His book would have more pictures of live dinosaurs, not just bones of dinosaurs.
Adventure and information, the earth and the people in it, all are favorites of Nadav.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Inspiration in Amsterdam and Sofia
I can't tell you about the whole trip in a short piece (though I would love to), but I will tell you about one thing from each place.
First, the thing that "blew my mind" in Amsterdam. No, not that. I was too jet-lagged. The Anne Frank house. I knew I would have to go there. I read The Diary of Anne Frank when I was in sixth grade. I'll never forget the moment I finished it, at a family gathering at my grandparents' apartment. I adored everyone in that apartment, and yet when I closed the book, in hysterical tears, I looked at my grandparents, my parents, my aunts and uncles, my older cousins, and I thought: I hate you. I hated them why? Because they never told me. My younger son had the same reaction when he first learned about the Holocaust in Sunday School. Of course this is not about not being told, it's about learning it for the first time for yourself. Experiencing the horrors of the world unfiltered in some way. That happened to me again in the museum that is in Anne Frank's hideout. Walking through the rooms where Anne and her family hid out, reading Anne's words, looking at photographs of Anne and her family, and the others, touching things Anne might have touched, I was deeply moved. Walking through with a crowd of other people from all over the world, all of us silent, was an emotional experience. Thinking of Anne experiencing first (and last) love in those rooms, was almost unbearable. Reading her gorgeous words, her genius that was snuffed out by evil, I was near tears. But it wasn't until the end that I was walloped.
Monday, June 20, 2011
So, all day long I have been avoiding the great, steaming outdoors - is this Borneo or is this Missouri in June? what's the dif? I ask myself, i.e. you guys, knowing well that there may well be among you, adventurous souls who have, in fact, been to Borneo, as I have not, but then, how many of you have sweated out a summer afternoon in Missouri, which leaves you feeling like a used tea bag? In any case, grateful I am for the luxury of air conditioning and having manuscript revisions to do and have done all this, as is said, the live long day. And what about? The West & our nation's cruel, ghastly, heroic, make-or-break, inevitable expansion thither - oh baybee, can you tell that I've been watching Poirot on PBS? Well, what's the use of being a writer if one can't toss around words such as thither every once in a while?
Thursday, June 16, 2011
When I was in grad school, I worked as a baker making cookies, pastries, muffins, and bread. I even fried donuts every Friday morning, coming in to work at 2 a.m. (ugh) to get the dough ready and then hovering over a vat of hot grease as the donuts puffed up and rose to the surface, sizzling.
I was chronically sleep-deprived. I burned my hands and forearms sliding trays into and out of the huge oven. I had to wear a hairnet. Plenty not to love about being a baker.
And yet. And yet—on many levels, it was a deeply satisfying job. It was creative, for one thing: the sparest of ingredients (plain flour, water, baking powder, yeast…) could be transformed into a huge variety of beautiful products: chewy rye bread, flaky Danish, melt-in-your-mouth butter cookies, tender muffins bursting with berries.
It was also fun to work in a place where people were generally happy. They were treating themselves, spending time with a friend, picking up a little something for a celebration. Not too many Grumpy Gusses go to bakeries.
Perhaps most important to me, though, was that the job offered immediate gratification (and I don't mean snack-wise, though I did sometimes sample what I was making.) Often at the end of my shift I would find myself stepping back to look at the shelves of fragrant baked goods—toasty brown, just asking to be enjoyed—and feel this enormous sense of pride and abundance. I had done a good day's work. I had accomplished something—and row upon row of cookies-muffins-toothsome treats was proof.
One of the biggest lessons I've had to learn in becoming a writer, in fact, dealt with just that: Where is the proof I got anything done today? Did I make any real progress on structuring my story, on understanding the people who will populate my book? Stepping back at the end of the day, the shelves sometimes seem empty. Where's all the pumpernickel and rye?? Where are my two dozen cream cheese Danish???
It used to freak me out when I first started writing full-time: I'd work all day, be utterly brain-dead at the end of it (just ask my husband), and there'd be nothing to 'show' for it. Some days I didn't write a single word, or if I did, it was only to scrawl notes from a reference book. Some days were spent in the library, searching (in vain) for some biographical detail or perfect quote. On days like that, I sometimes wondered if I had even justified the $2.50 I spent to park my car in the university library parking lot.
I felt guilty and a bit like a fraud. It seemed weird how much of the time writing a nonfiction book did not involve writing at all.
But all the groundwork, all that pre-writing, is essential. It can take months of research until you uncover enough information and have a good enough sense of your topic to write even the first line. The poking around, the meandering side-trips that look promising but then end up going nowhere, the incremental building of a base of knowledge—they are all part of the process.
I've learned to measure progress not by days but by stages: Getting to know my characters? Check. Getting a sense of the story I want to tell? Check. Tossing the six or eight or ten wrong starting places for the right one? Check. I've learned to embrace the concept working on faith—faith in the integrity of my story and in its need to be told—to sustain myself through the long slog of doubting whether I will be able to tell it. I've learned to keep working on faith until the story takes on a life of its own, and I can hold on, try to keep up, and try to stay out of the way.
I've come to understand that a writer actively writes (pen to paper or fingers on the keyboard)—taking an idea from first draft to revisions to finished product—to get a handle on the story, and that an author can't truly know a story until s/he writes it down. But before the actual writing starts, there is important work to be done—work that can't always be shown or proven or sometimes even verbalized in any way that would make sense to anyone else. But important work, nonetheless.
It's a longer incubation period than whipping up a batch of crispy, chewy raisin oatmeal cookies, to be sure. But when the story finally comes together? Tasty, toasty, satisfying, indeed.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Making information interactive
For this example, let's explore some interactive ideas about lions using the simple ability to Hide or Show an image or text string. In other words, things can appear or disappear when the Reader taps on the screen:
- Pop-up labels to identify body parts
- Show layers under the skin: muscles, skeleton (i.e. the skin and muscle layers vanish as needed)
- A timeline of lion evolution with thumbnail images that can be enlarged
- Images that can zoom way in to show details of eyes, hair, teeth
- A time-lapse sequence of photos of a growing cub
- African map with lion's range from historic times through today into a projected future
- Switching out altered photos of a white or black lion to demonstrate how real lions blend into their habitat
Though I'm not a classroom teacher, my books certainly seek to inform students so I'm always interested in interesting ideas in education. Recently, I came across a PDF called Interactive Techniques, compiled by Dr. Kevin Yee of the University of Central Florida. There are 182 tips listed, many which could be translatable into an interactive book app. Here are a few:
33. Misconception check: Discover class's preconceptions...
For a nonfiction ebook, there could be an opening section that explores common myths about the topic. The reader could tap on the text and the myths could melt away like the Wicked Witch of the West, or some other fun effect.
41. Concept mapping: Students write keywords onto sticky notes and then organize them into a flowchart...
How about including a section in the digital book for Readers to move around and organize facts in various ways? They could take a screenshot of their work to save it.
131. Question and Answer Cards: Make index cards for every student in the class; half with questions about class content; half with the right answers. Shuffle the cards and have students find their appropriate partner by comparing questions and answers on their own cards.
There could be a list of question "cards" at the beginning of the ebook, then Reader searches through the material for the answers. As each question and answer are matched up, Reader scores a point.
Speaking of information, for those I.N.K. readers interested in iPad productivity apps, I downloaded, read, and highlighted favorite ideas from Yee's list with an excellent PDF reader app, GoodReader for iPad. The image below shows the My Documents area where your PDFs are listed. (I added the green logo.) You can browse the internet and download documents at will.
As you read along, it's easy to highlight text:
It's going to be fun to see how information will be gathered and presented in innovative ways as the technology for creating interactive books becomes more accessible to content creators.
Loreen Leedy
my web site
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
All Indians Weren't Bad People
On the very first day of school that year we were introduced to a new teacher, a man. I attended a parochial school and Mr. Polino was the first male teacher ever hired. He was short and stocky and tough looking, and he began class that day by standing at the front, armed folded across his chest, staring hard at us. He never said a word but he definitely did not looked pleased. Gradually, as more and more kids stopped chattering to pay attention, the room quieted. I thought, "uh, oh, this isn't going to be good" and tied to disappear behind the kid in front of me. At this point Mr. Polino said in a strong voice, "All Indians weren't bad people!"*
By Indians he meant Native-Americans and the initial reaction to his simple statement ranged from surprised laughter to astonished gasps to scatterings of "what's he talking about?" Mr. P. then went on to tell us that we'd all been brainwashed into believing the worst about Native-Americans by really bad TV shows and movies. This produced a gentle murmuring of protest from the class; Mr. P. responded by asking us to be honest: "When you think about Indians what are the images that come to mind immediately." Several hands shot into the air and Mr. P. called on one after the other for answers, all of which turned out to be negative stereotypes based on -- guess what -- bad TV shows and movies.*
I realized that Mr. P. had trapped us, but he wasn't gloating about out manueuvering us or even lecturing us on wasting our time on trashy programs. He didn't even warn us that we should do better research before forming opinions. In fact, he was actually smiling by this time and seemed almost friendly as he began talking about the Lenni Lanape people and their accomplishments. And he did this for well over an hour. Telling us about their lifestyle, what local rivers and roads bore names using their language, how they had tried to maintain their lands through various treaties only to be betrayed by white settlers. It wasn't just the details he was revealing that grabbed my attention; Mr. P. was clearly animated and passionate about the subject and you could feel that excitement in his every word, every gesture. I sat up pretty tall in my seat so I could see and hear Mr. P. clearly. Afterward, I remember thinking that a whole new world had opened before me, a world where the past held secrets that I could uncover if I just did a little bit of legwork.*
I think about Mr. Polino every time I start a new project. Not that I think of myself as an accomplished teacher who might inspire young readers to a life of history. I have too much respect for the heavy lifting teachers have to do to engage and inform kids. But I do tell myself to put aside the cares of the day, to focus my thoughts and energy so I can bring as much passion and excitement to whatever subject I might be writing about. Hopefully, if I can maintain that focus from start to finish, one of my books might aid and abet a teacher in opening new worlds to one or more of their students.*
Monday, June 13, 2011
Author-in-Residence: A Dream Assignment
As the end of the school year approaches, it's natural to look back and access the experience. Having done school visits for many years, I have always been in awe of classroom teachers. Now, I bow down to them. To see what they do every day, day after day, is amazing. To see the pressure to fulfill a state's curriculum--teach X from October 12 to November 3rd and then segue to unit Y on the 4th. To understand more fully how my coming to the classroom with extras means extra resources and richness but extra work squeezing to fit everything in, however worthy it all is.
But some great things happened this year, from K to 5. Some of the highlights:
When the kindergarteners read Mike Mulligan and his Steam Engine, they wondered what the workers on the site had named their machines. They were amazed--maybe a little horrified--when they realized those excavators and dump trucks were just called "it" or "they." That's when the Name That Crane campaign was born--the two kindergarten classes each nominated names, ran campaigns and voted for the name to call the huge crane that lifted the steel (they also learned the democratic process in the bargain, which made the See How They Run author very happy). Voting Day was very exciting, take a look.
Here are the kindergarteners at the naming ceremony--with the Big Giraffe, the newly dubbed 400-ton crane in the background. (A fine name, but I was personally rooting for Mr. Lifty! That's democracy for ya--besides I didn't get a vote.)
For National Poetry Month, one first grade class experimented with acrostic poems, which use the letters in a topic word to begin each line. Then all the lines of the poem relate to this topic. Given what was going on outside their class window, they used the word, CONSTRUCT. This poem above was one of my favorites.
One second grade class is collaborating on a book about the day in the life of a construction worker and what these men and women must do to stay safe. For one week, they spent an hour a day observing the construction site and writing down what they saw.
Then they did interviews; two workers came to their classroom to answer their questions about safety. The kids got to touch and try on the equipment so they could really understand what they were going to write about. In other words, these young kids were learning to research exactly the way we professionals do.
The fifth grade teacher asked me to come in to talk to her class to kick off their nonfiction book writing unit. While I was there I mentioned that I've found that when I'm really interested in my subject, I find that my book turns out better. So this intrepid teacher decided to abandon the "everybody writes about a person in history or an animal" assignment and let the kids pick. Pretty brave for a school where the kids have computer class once a week and no school library, really.
But the next time I came back, the kids were running with it. Give kids a choice and what do they come up with? Books about cancer, profiles of each of the ingredients in pizza, why tears are salty, the history of video games, snakes that swallow their prey whole, New Jersey's role in the Revolutionary war, and a profile of a favorite teacher--among others. Oh, and the Big Bang Theory.
Today I'm going in to show them about dummying up a book. The teacher says it's tough, it's a bit chaotic, but the kids are running with it and have never been so excited about a project. Isn't it the way it should be? Aren't they lucky? Aren't I?
Can't wait for the publishing party.
For anyone who is interested: www.michaeljperkinsschool.blogspot.com
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Hanging Out with Biographers
About 30 people showed up for our presentation, a pretty good turnout. (I always like it when the audience outnumbers the panelists.) They were a serious, note-taking bunch, which unnerved me a little until I told myself to think of them as 10-year-olds, my favorite audience. When I shared that with them, most of them smiled. "But I'm not talking down to you," I said, and then commented that good nonfiction books for children don't talk down to readers, either.
Later that day, while I was waiting in line for the restroom, a woman noticed my panelist badge and asked which panel I was on. "Oh, my friend went to that one and told me it was really interesting," she said. Just as I was beginning to preen, she added, "My friend said that writing for kids sounds so much easier than writing for adults that she wants to give it a try." Oh really? I started to bristle, then relaxed. One of our jobs as nonfiction writers for kids is to make complex subjects understandable. Obviously my co-panelists and I had succeeded in making our craft seem accessible. I smiled as sweetly as I could and said her friend should definitely give it a try. And I meant it. Let her learn how easy it is to paint a rich portrait of a human life in only 20,000 words, or in the case of my books, a mere 8,000. Heck, let her try writing a picture book biography!
To be fair, I don't think the woman in line with me was trying to sound condescending. And most of the other biographers I met were intrigued and genuinely interested in my work when I told them I write for children. It was a terrific conference, and I only wish I had had the opportunity to attend more workshops. Among the offerings: Dealing with Black Holes in Your Subject's Life; The Role for Fiction in Biography; How to Organize Your Research; Can I Quote That? Dealing with Copyright, Fair Use, Permission; The Art of Interviewing; Using Technology in Research; and Turning Research into Narrative. The keynote speaker at the luncheon was Robert Caro, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner for biography, who spoke about the power of place in biography.
The 2012 BIO conference will be in Los Angeles. Think about it. And in the meantime I'll leave you with these words from Cathy Reef's excellent talk: "A biography written at any level is so much more than a collection of facts about an individual. It is a work of literature, a portrait in words."
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
One of the reasons that I was writing this piece so late in the game is a case in point. At 7:00 last night, INK bloggers Dorothy Hinshaw Patent out in Missoula Montana, Vicki Cobb up in White Plains NY, and yours truly from Fairfax Station VA were having some fun by doing a live Computerside Chat via SetFocus. Entitled "Wild Women at Work," the idea was to let viewers from multiple computers all over creation tune in to see us talk about the most exciting parts of our job; we wanted to discuss a sampling of the adventures we've had while ferreting out juicy facts for our books.
Vicki was the moderator, and Dorothy and I were the "wild women" who get to travel all over the planet digging up just the right fodder for our true tales. Between the two of us, we've done such things as sail the seas through the Bermuda Triangle, photograph wild elephants and lions from mere inches away, seek out polar bears with snowshoes for feet and hummingbirds wearing white bedroom slippers, and gain a coveted entry to the famous Lascaux Caves in France. And that's just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. What a deal! (Besides, these are business trips too, which are sometimes tax deductible.)
Dorothy and I also talked a lot about mining original source material, and I see from Steve Sheinkin's blog about detective work that we must share the same brain. Ever since 1997, I've been calling myself a detective too - or even a spy who snoops around looking for clues. Well, clues run rampant in original source material, and the colorful language and stories we've found are to die for. Of course in my case, this is a very safe kind of sleuthing, since all the people I've been spying on are stone cold dead in the market and have been for hundreds of years.
The fun continues. I get to do all the artwork in my books, and who wouldn't love to do that at some point in their life? Then there's Alex Siy. Check out her first INK blog from last Thursday to see what her life is about. Or read about the excitement in Karen Romano Young's barn on Memorial Day.
This type of fun in the real world has led directly to some of the most amazing nonfiction books kids could ever wish for. So here's hoping that the adventures these authors undertook on behalf of writing their true tales will spill over into the lives of a few kids who read our books. Maybe they will become the writers of the future. Or the artists. Or the scientists. Or the thinkers and dreamers and inventors and adventurers. Anyway, you get the picture.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Pleasures of Homework
A few kids appeared to cringe. One raised his hand and said, "So, um… you do homework for a living?"
After everyone was done laughing at my expense, I explained that I think of it more as detective work. "Okay," I said, "maybe a nerdy kind of detective work, but still… My job is to find stories, and I read books to look for clues, follow leads, gather evidence."
That won a few kids over, at least. But the thing is, it's really true. And to me, those days spent following sources, never knowing where they'll lead, are some of the most rewarding days—even when they don't result in "useful" details or book ideas. Recently, at a used bookstore, I stumbled upon a thick volume from 1895 called Darkness and Daylight in New York, With Hundreds of Thrilling Anecdotes and Incidents, Sketches of Life and Character (and the subtitle goes on for four more lines). In the book's first section, a reformer and relief worker named Helen Campbell describes her work with New York City's poorest. The details are vivid and shocking, and the text offers a wealth of urban street slang. At one point Campbell lists the names of homeless newsies she's met, including Yaller, King of Bums, Snitcher, Snoddy, Kelly the Rake, Slobbery Jack, and King of Crapshooters.
I can't begin to describe the richness of this source, so I'll just tell one story. One day, at a charity hospital, Campbell met Jack, a boy of about eleven with "grey eyes, large and full of expression," and a body stunted by hunger. Lying flat on his back, wrapped in splints and bandages, he told Campbell his story.
Late one rainy night, maybe a year before, he'd returned to his usual sleeping spot by the river. "I allus liked it along the docks," he said. "You could often pick up oranges an' bananas, an' many a time I've licked molasses off the barrels." That night another kid was curled up in Jack's crate. "He wasn't bigger'n a rat much," Jack said. The kid, Buster, quickly told his tale of beatings and abandonment. "He was 'most naked an' hungry," Jack said, "an' when he dried up his eyes after a good a cry, I says to him, 'We'll go hunks, an' whatever I have you shall have the same.'"
From then on, they were partners. They worked selling papers and shining shoes, but the lure of better money tempted Buster into daybreak work. "You don't know what a Daybreak Boy is?" Jack asked Campbell. "It's a whole gang what steals from small craft below Hell Gate, an' sell their stealins for whatever they get, which is mostly nothing." Jack tried to talk Buster out of stealing, but with no luck. "He liked the fun of it, an' he was so little he could sneak in anywheres an' he got to be a champion daybreak, an' that tickled him."
All the while Jack kept working, saving pennies toward the dream of moving west, and taking Buster with him. "I was awful worried over Buster," Jack said. "I know'd if he could only get away he'd do well enough." Jack followed rumors about his friend, and soon heard he was in hiding from the cops. Jack tracked Buster to a Lower East Side tenement, and tried to convince him to head west before it was too late. "He'd about promised me he'd do as I wanted when the woman in the next room gave the alarm."
As the police charged up the tenement stairs, Jack and Buster climbed to the roof and ran to the building's edge. Buster turned to Jack. "You meant to give me away, did you? Damn you!" Before Jack could deny it, Buster pushed him. Jack fell four floors to the ally below.
"He didn't mean it," Jack told Helen Campbell from his hospital bed. "And he got away, an' so I don't care, an' he sent me word the other day that when I got well he'd go west or anywhere I wanted. So you see it's come out pretty good. I'm so tired. I think I'm goin' to sleep."
Campbell said goodbye and left. A week later she got a note from a hospital nurse. Jack was dead. He'd had left a scrap of paper for Campbell, which was enclosed in the note. Campbell opened the scrap. On the paper, in shaky letters, were the words: "Please find Buster."
Finding stories like that—that's why I do homework for a living.


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Obama and the architects of health-care reform are long on theory, but short on the reality of medicine.
But there is a reality, whether or not the theorists like to consider it. The facts are the facts, and in this case hard to deny. Even some of the most verbal proponents of Obamacare – are being "bitten in the a--" so to speak by the real world results of their ridiculous attempt at micromanagement of a complex field that constitutes 14 percent of the nation's economy.
Max Baucus, Democrat from Montana called implementation of Obamacare a "train wreck." Senators Franken and Lobuchar from Minnesota are finding out that Obamacare's tax on medical manufacturing is wreaking havoc with their state's huge medical manufacturing industry. They have, at least on this minor point in the law, moved to the opposition.
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Congressional staffers themselves are now subjected to the laws they helped write –and they are not happy to live under the rules! As the joke goes, a conservative is a liberal who has been mugged by reality.
So let us review the real effects of Obamacare to date:
TRENDING: 'I slept with my half-sibling': Fertility industry opens door to disturbing situations
1. Roseland Community Hospital, a Chicago south-side hospital that cares for many of the area's indigent is laying off 68 employees including clerks, lab staff, ER nurses and managers. Executives and others are taking a pay cut. This is a direct result of decreased reimbursements under Medicare as mandated by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or PPACA, otherwise known as Obamacare.
2. In a June CNBC survey, 41 percent of small businesses reported having frozen hiring due to the new health-care law. 1 out of 5 said specifically the freeze was due to Obamacare. Thirty-eight percent of small businesses said they pulled back on their plans to expand, specifically citing Obamacare.
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3. Ministry Health Care is planning a layoff of 225 to 250 full-time jobs due to the reducing reimbursement.
4. Allegany Co. Pennsylvania Community College cut hours for 400 adjunct faculty and other employers so it did not have to pay $6 million in Obamacare-related fees.
5. Medina, Ohio, cut hours of its city employees, citing the fact that they had the money to pay salaries, but not the budget to pay for the new health care required, which would have added $1 million to their cost.
6. Dearborn, Mich., is cutting more than 700 part-time and seasonal workers down to 28 hours a week. According to the Mayor, John O'Reilly, "If we had to provide health care and other benefits to all our employees, the burden on the city would be tremendous."
7. Temporary staffing jobs hit a record 2.68 million in May as employers look to hire more part-time employees and therefore avoid the ramifications of Obamacare. The temp employment industry in the last four months has added 98,000 jobs, making it the No. 2 growth industry.
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8. Medicare cuts in reimbursements to hospitals have resulted in cutting physician staffing. In the Henry Ford Medical Group, 20-25 physicians will be taking early retirement as 3-4 percent is cut from the physician budget. This makes evening and weekend call difficult to cover.
9. A Birmingham, Mich., commissioner, Gordon Rinschler summed it up, "We simply cannot afford the 'affordable care act.'"
These are just a few of the myriad announcements of job layoffs and the cutting of hours so more people are part-time employees. This is the first response to Obamacare –the real effects will not become fully manifest until 2014. At that time when all the fat has been cut, when all the fines are coming due, when doctors have retired in droves, when the size of government has further expanded and the rest of the costs kick in, there will be nowhere to run. Businesses then will start closing their doors.
There comes a time to examine theory in the cold hard light of reality. The ideal of "free health care" is a false ideal. There is no free lunch and there is no free health care. And when the government offers you something for "free," grab your wallets because you are about to be fleeced, as businesses, doctors, hospitals and local governments are finding out.

subset: commoncrawl


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Pair with a matching Mimi Green Classic Webbing Personalized Dog Collar
About Mimi Green: The team behind Mimi Green wants the items you choose for your dog to mean something to you. That's why they proudly make each of their original designs by hand—from sewing to engraving—in their New Mexico studio.
We offer returns and exchanges within 60 days of receiving your order. You can return your item and receive a refund to the original payment method or exchange your item for something new.
Please note: When returning an item, a $6 return shipping fee will apply. Consumables are not eligible for returns. We do not accept returns on personalized items. If you typed your personalization incorrectly, please let us know within 7 days of receiving the item and we will send you a one-time code for 50% off this item so you can reorder.


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Dodgers start Eric Stults, LHP (1-3, 4.93) vs. Barry Zito, LHP (10-13, 4.63).
Dodgers: 82-79 (4th place NL West, 8 GB, W2)
Giants: 70-91 (5th/last place NL West, 20 GB, L4)
From Dodgers.com, the scouting report on the starters:
Dodgers: Stults gets a pick-up start for the season finale in place of Brad Penny, who has shut it down. This will be Stults' fourth start of the season for the Dodgers and first since Sept. 5 in Chicago. In his only appearance against the Giants this year, he pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings.Giants: Zito will close out the season with a final start against the Dodgers. Overall, Zito is finishing the season strong, with an impressive effort in the final two months, but he has faltered a little in his past two starts. In his start against the Padres on Monday, Zito made it only five innings, giving up four runs on eight hits while putting runners on every inning, but the Giants gave him seven runs of support and he earned the win.
COMMENTS: It's fan appreciation day, and I can't wait to hear how Frankie McCourt shows his appreciation for his record-setting fan base. By screwing over the team with an inactive off-season, and more talk of clubhouse dissension? By sticking us with a manager who sleepwalks through every game for yet another year? By complicating parking flows beyond reason? By denying us the World Series title that these fans, and this city, richly deserves?
You want to show us fan appreciation, Frank? Enough with the seat cushions and free flights to Phoenix. GIVE US ALEX RODRIGUEZ NEXT YEAR. We deserve it.


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Chronic heartburn could spur asthma in some patients
(HealthDay)—Chronic heartburn is a major cause of asthma in adults, a new study suggests.
The finding could help add asthma to the known health risks—including esophageal cancer—already associated with chronic heartburn, which is formally known as gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and is one of the most common digestive disorders in Western nations.
GERD occurs when a muscle at the end of the esophagus fails to close properly. This allows stomach contents to leak back (reflux) into the esophagus and irritate it. GERD symptoms include frequent heartburn, chest discomfort, dry cough, difficulty swallowing, hoarseness or sore throat, and regurgitation of food.
In this study, researchers used a new, specially designed catheter that measures levels of acid reflux exposure within the patient's airway. They believe that this new method (known by the acronym HMII) was much more effective than conventional techniques in identifying patients with GERD-induced asthma.
The researchers also found that for the majority of patients, asthma symptoms eased after they underwent surgery for GERD, according to the study published Jan. 23 in the journal JAMA Surgery.
"We have observed for some time a strong association between GERD and certain pulmonary [lung] diseases, including adult-onset asthma," study author Dr. Blair Jobe, director of the Institute for the Treatment of Esophageal and Thoracic Disease at the West Penn Allegheny Health System, said in a health system news release.
"The real challenge, however, has been our limited ability to effectively diagnose these patients and determine who precisely may benefit from surgical intervention," he added. According to Jobe, the newly devised test "is much more sensitive as means of detecting GERD in asthmatic patients than what we have traditionally relied upon."
The findings are strong enough to warrant consideration of HMII testing in adults with asthma that is not responding to asthma medications or in those who also have GERD symptoms, he said.
One expert wasn't surprised by the findings.
"GERD is a common condition affecting millions of Americans," noted Dr. David Bernstein, gastroenterologist and chief of the division of hepatology at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, N.Y. He said that "reflux of gastric acid through the esophagus and into the lungs is a common cause of chronic cough and asthma."
But it may be too early to advocate for widespread diagnostic testing using the new method, he added.
"This new technique is interesting and needs to be further evaluated before it can replace currently accepted diagnostic techniques," Bernstein said.
However, he believes that surgery is not always warranted for patients with reflux-linked asthma symptoms.
"Surgery for GERD-induced asthma is seldom necessary due to the ability of high-dose anti-acid medications in controlling the vast majority of reflux cases," Bernstein contends. "It is premature to recommend anti-reflux surgery without an adequate trial of anti-acid medications."
More information: The U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases has more about GERD.
Health News Copyright © 2013 HealthDay. All rights reserved.


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Spirometry is used to test lung function. The person breathes normally, then quickly inhales deeply through a mouthpiece with attached tubing. She next exhales quickly until she has emptied her lungs as much as possible. These breaths are measured by the spirometer (at the right), which has a black plastic attachment that rises and falls with each complete breath. Many spirometers are electronic and do not have a piston or bellow that moves as a person breathes.
Video from Lahey Clinic Media Center.


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From DC Brau here in Washington, DC, I'm tasting The Stone of Arbroath. This Scotch wee heavy, the winter seasonal from DC Brau, is named after the Drosten Stone, a mysterious Pictish stone with an usual inscription in Roman script.
The Stone pours a deep sienna brown bordering on black. The buff-colored head is creamy and thick, falling quickly but leaving a good lacing. The nose is light but complex, led by a sweet malt character of toast, chocolate and caramel. Dark stone fruit like plums follow, joined by a hint of banana ester. As it warms the sweet dark malt character grows more predominant.
The taste is surely rich and sweet, but somehow remains relatively balanced. Dark malt flavors blend with kettle caramelization to produce a robust toasty, roasty and sweet character. The full, creamy body is balanced by a strong alcohol warming and barely noticeable grassy hop bitterness. The roast character borders on a stout but the full sweetness keeps the burnt flavor at bay.
At first it seems this beer will be cloying, but the sweetness fades away quickly, yielding a balanced flavor. Yet the body never completely dies, ensuring that the spicy alcohol and roast malt character remain balanced to the end.
This is a beer my father, a lover of stouts, would quite like.
DC Brau The Stone of Arbroath
4.0 (3-7-8-5-17)


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RANSOM (răn'sŭm, Heb. kōpher, pidhyôn, gā'al, Gr. lytron, antilytron). The price paid for the redemption of a slave (Lev.19.20); a reparation paid for injury or damages (Exod.22.10-Exod.22.12); a fee, fine, or heavy assessment laid on a person as a substitute for his own life (Exod.21.30). There was no ransom provided for the willful murderer (Num.35.31). In the NT the term signifies the redemptive price offered by Christ on the cross for the salvation of his people (Mark.10.45; 1Tim.2.6).
RANSOM, two Heb. and two Gr. words are so rendered in the Eng. VSS. 1. Heb. כָּפַר, H4105, "to expiate" and the like. The original meaning of the Heb. term was "to cover," "to make amends" but in the Biblical usage it comes to mean "expiate," "bring to exemption from punishment." This is one of the key words in the teaching of the OT concerning sin and atonement (Lev 1:4, et al. frequently).
2. The Heb. term פִּדְיוֹן, H7018, the nominal pl. form of the root פדה, "to ransom," "to pay off." Although the noun "ransom" or "payment" occurs in a number of passages it is rendered "ransom" by the KJV only in Exodus 21:30, ASV renders "redemption money" which is to be preferred in all citations.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)
1. Usage by Christ
2. Old Testament Usage--the Law
(1) General Cases
(2) Redemption Money--the Firstborn
(3) Connection with Sacrifice
(4) Typical Reference to the Messiah
3. The Psalms and Job
4. Apostolic Teaching
5. To Whom Was the Ransom Paid?
(1) Not to Satan
(2) To Divine Justice
(a) Redemption by Price
(b) Redemption by Power
1. Usage by Christ:
The supremely important instance is the utterance of the Lord Jesus Christ as reported by Matthew and Mark (Mt 20:28; Mr 10:45), and in looking at it we shall be able, by way of illustration, to glance at the Old Testament passages. The context refers to the dispute among the disciples concerning position in the Kingdom, with their misconception of the true nature of Christ's Kingdom. Christ makes use of the occasion to set forth the great law of service as determining the place of honor in that Kingdom, and illustrates and enforces it by showing that its greatest exemplification is to be found in His own mission: "For the Son of man also came not to be ministered unto, but to minister" (Mr 10:45). His ministry, however, was to pass into the great act of sacrifice, of which all other acts of self-sacrifice on the part of His people would be but a faint reflection--"and to give his life (soul) a ransom for many" (same place). He thus gives a very clear intimation of the purpose and meaning of His death; the clearest of all the intimations reported by the synoptists. The word He uses bears a well-established meaning, and is accurately rendered by our word "ransom," a price paid to secure the freedom of a slave or to set free from liabilities and charges, and generally the deliverance from calamity by paying the forfeit. The familiar verb luo, "to loose," "to set free," is the root, then lutron, that which secures the freedom, the payment or forfeit; thence come the cognate verb lutroo, "to set free upon payment of a ransom," "to redeem"; lutrosis, "the actual setting free," "the redemption," and lutrotes, "the redeemer." The favorite New Testament word for "redemption" is the compound form, apolutrosis.
2. Old Testament Usage--the Law:
The word lutron was common in Greek classical literature, constantly bearing the sense of "ransom price," and was frequently connected with ritual usage, with sacrifice and expiation. But for the full explanation of our Lord's great thought we have to look to the Old Testament usage. The two leading Hebrew verbs translated in our version by "redeem," are generally rendered in the Septuagint by lutroo, and derivatives of these words conveying the idea of the actual price paid are translated by this very word lutron.
(1) General Cases.
In Ex 21:30 we have the law concerning the case of the person killed by an ox; the ox was to be killed and the owner of it was also liable to death but the proviso was made, "If there be laid on him a sum of money, then he shall give for the ransom of his life whatsoever is laid upon him" (the King James Version). The Hebrew for "sum of money" is kopher, literally, "atonement" (the Revised Version (British and American) "ransom"); the word for "ransom" (the Revised Version (British and American) "redemption") is pidhyon (from padhah); the Septuagint renders both by lutron (rather by the plural form lutra). In Le 25, among the directions in relation to the Jubilee, we have the provision (25:23) that the land was not to be sold "in perpetuity," but where any portion has been sold, opportunity is to be given for re-purchase: "Ye shall grant a redemption for the land" (25:24). The Hebrew is ge'ullah, a derivative of ga'al, the Septuagint lutra. In 25:25,26, the case is mentioned of a man who through poverty has sold part of his land; if a near kinsman is able to redeem it he shall do so; if there is no one to act this brotherly part, and the man himself is able to redeem it, then a certain scale of price is arranged. In the Hebrew it is again ga'al that is used with the cognate go'el for "kinsman." The last clause rendered in the King James Version, "and himself be able to redeem it" (in the Revised Version (British and American) "and he be waxed rich and find sufficient to redeem it"), is literally, "and his hand shall acquire and he find sufficient for its redemption"; the Septuagint has the verb lutroo in the first part, and renders the clause pretty literally, "and there be furnished to his hand and there be found with him the sufficient price (lutra) of it." In Le 25:51,52, in reference to the redemption of the Jew sold into slavery, we have twice in the Hebrew the word ge'ullah, rendered in English accurately "the pricen of his redemption"; and by Septuagint with equal accuracy, in both cases, lutra, "the ransom-price." In Le 27:31 the King James Version, the phrase "if a man will at all redeem aught of his tithes" is intended to represent the emphatic Hebrew idiom, "if a man redeeming will redeem," which is rendered by Septuagint ean de lutrotai lutro anthropos.
(2) Redemption Money--the Firstborn.
But perhaps the most important passage is the law concerning the half-shekel to be paid by every Israelite from 20 years old and upward when a census was taken. It was to be the same for rich and poor, and it was called "atonement money," "to make atonement for their souls." In the opening words of the law, as given in Ex 30:12 (the King James Version), we read "Then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord"--the Hebrew kopher; the Septuagint rendering is lutra tes psuches autou, "a ransom price for his soul." All the people were thus considered as doomed and needing atonement, and it is significant that this atonement money paid at the first census furnished the silver for the sockets of the tabernacle boards, intimating that the typical tabernacle was built upon atonement. The same thought, that the people's lives were forfeited, comes out in the provision for the consecration of the Levites, recorded in full in Nu 3:40-51. The firstborn represented the people. God claimed all the firstborn as forfeited to Himself, teaching that Israel deserved the same punishment as the Egyptians, and was only spared by the grace of Yahweh, and in virtue of the sprinkled blood. Now He takes to Himself for His services the Levites as the equivalent of the firstborn, and when it was found that the number of the firstborn exceeded the number of the Levites, equivalence was maintained by ransoming at a certain price the surplus of the firstborn males. In the Septuagint account, lutra occurs 4 times, twice for the phrase "those to be redeemed," and twice for "redemption money." Thus the idea of ransom for the forfeited life became familiar to the people as educated by the typical system, and redemption expressed the sum total of their hopes for the future, however faulty might be their conception of the nature of that redemption.
(3) Connection with Sacrifice.
It is also clear in the typical teaching that sacrifice and ransom were closely related. Even in classical Greek, as we have noted, the two conceptions were connected, and it is not surprising to find it so in the Old Testament. Kopher, we have seen, is literally, "atonement" and comes from kaphar, literally, "to cover," and thence by covering to make atonement, or to cover by making atonement; and so it is in the Piel form, the most common and technical Hebrew word for making atonement, or expiation, or propitiation, and is frequently rendered in the Greek by hilaskomai, often too by the compound exilaskomai. In Ex 21:30, kopher, we noted, is used interchangeably with pidhyon, both being represented in the Septuagint by lutra, and so in Ex 30:12; Nu 35:31,32; the Hebrew kopher is lutra in the Greek In the latter place, where it is twice stated that no satisfaction shall be taken for the life of a murderer, the Hebrew is kopher, the Septuagint has lutra; the Revised Version (British and American) has "ransom;" the King James Version has "satisfaction."
(4) Typical Reference to the Messiah.
Sacrifice was thus linked with ransom. Sacrifice was the divinely-appointed covering for sin. The ransom for the deliverance of the sinner was to be by sacrifice. Both the typical testimony of the Law and the prophetic testimony gave prominence to the thought of redemption. The Coming One was to be a Redeemer. Redemption was to be the great work of the Messiah. The people seem to have looked for the redemption of the soul to God alone through the observance of their appointed ritual, while redemption, in the more general sense of deliverance from all enemies and troubles, they linked with the advent of the Messiah. It required a spiritual vision to see that the two things would coincide, that the Messiah would effect redemption in all its phases and fullness by means of ransom, of sacrifice, of expiation.
Jesus appeared as the Messiah in whom all the old economy was to be fulfilled. He knew perfectly the meaning of the typical and prophetic testimony; and with that fully in view, knowing that His death was to fulfill the Old Testament types and accomplish its brightest prophetic anticipations, He deliberately uses this term lutron to describe it (Mt 20:28); in speaking of His death as a ransom, He also regarded it as a sacrifice, an expiatory offering. The strong preposition used intensifies the idea of ransom and expiation, even to the point of substitution. It is anti, "instead of," and the idea of exchange, equivalence, substitution cannot be removed from it. In Nu 3:45, "Take the Levites instead of all the first-born," the Septuagint uses anti, which, like the English "instead of," exactly represents the Hebrew tachath; and all three convey most unmistakably the idea of substitution. And as the Levites were to be substituted for the firstborn, so for the surplus of the firstborn the "ransom money" was to be substituted, that idea, however, being clearly enough indicated by the use of the genitive. Indeed the simpler way of describing a ransom would be with the genitive, the ransom of many; or as our version renders, "a ransom for many"; but just because the ransom here is not simply a money payment, but is the actual sacrifice of the life, the substitution of His soul for many, He is appropriately said "to give his soul a ransom instead of many." The Kingdom of God which Christ proclaimed was so diverse in character from that which Salome and her sons anticipated that, so far from appearing in dazzling splendor, with distinguished places of power for eager aspirants, it was to be a spiritual home for redeemed sinners. Men held captive by sin needed to be ransomed that they might be free to become subjects of the Kingdom, and so the ransom work, the sufferings and death of Christ, must lie at the very foundation of that Kingdom. The need of ransom supposes life forfeited; the ransom paid secures life and liberty; the life which Christ gives comes through His ransoming death.
3. The Psalms and Job:
Besides the passages in the Pentateuch which we have noted, special mention should be made of the two great passages which bear so closely upon the need of spiritual redemption, and come into line with this great utterance of Christ. Ps 49:7,8, "None of them can by any means redeem (padhah; lutroo) his brother, nor give to God a ransom (kopher; exilasma) for him (for the redemption of their life is costly, and it faileth forever)." (The Hebrew gives pidhyon for "redemption"; the Greek has "the price of the redemption of his soul.") No human power or skill, no forfeit in money or service or life can avail to ransom any soul from the doom entailed by sin. But in Ps 49:15 the triumphant hope is expressed, "But God will redeem (padhah; lutroo) my soul from the power of Sheol." In Job 33:24, "Deliver him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom": God is the speaker, and whatever may be the particular exegesis of the passage in its original application, it surely contains an anticipation of the gospel redemption. This divine eureka is explained in the light of Christ's utterance; it finds its realization through the cross: "I have found a ransom," for "the Son of Man" has given "his soul a ransom for many."
4. Apostolic Teaching:
This great utterance of the Saviour may well be considered as the germ of all the apostolic teaching concerning redemption, but it is not for us to show its unfolding beyond noting that in apostolic thought the redemption was always connected with the death, the sacrifice of Christ.
5. To Whom Was the Ransom Paid?:
The question "Who receives the ransom?" is not directly raised in Scripture, but it is one that not unnaturally occurs to the mind, and theologians have answered it in varying ways.
(1) Not to Satan.
The idea entertained by some of the Fathers (Irenaeus, Origen) that the ransom was given to Satan, who is conceived of as having through the sin of man a righteous claim upon him, which Christ recognizes and meets, is grotesque, and not in any way countenanced by Scripture.
(2) To Divine Justice.
But in repudiating it, there is no need to go so far as to deny that there is anything answering to a real ransoming transaction. All that we have said goes to show that, in no mere figure of speech, but in tremendous reality, Christ gave "his life a ransom," and if our mind demands an answer to the question to whom the ransom was paid, it does not seem at all unreasonable to think of the justice of God, or God in His character of Moral Governor, as requiring and receiving it. In all that Scripture asserts about propitiation, sacrifice, reconciliation in relation to the work of Christ, it is implied that there is wrath to be averted, someone to be appeased or satisfied, and while it may be enough simply to think of the effects of Christ's redeeming work in setting us free from the penal claims of the Law--the just doom of sin--it does not seem going beyond the spirit of Scripture to draw the logical inference that the ransom price was paid to the Guardian of that holy law, the Administrator of eternal justice. "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us" (Ga 3:13). This essential, fundamental phase of redemption is what theologians, with good Scripture warrant, have called redemption by blood, or by price, as distinguished from the practical outcome of the work of Christ in the life which is redemption by power.
(a) Redemption by Price:
As to Satan's claims, Christ by paying the ransom price, having secured the right to redeem, exercises His power on behalf of the believing sinner. He does not recognize the right of Satan. He is the "strong man" holding his captives lawfully, and Christ the "stronger than he" overcomes him and spoils him, and sets his captives free (Lu 11:21,22). In one sense men may be said to have sold themselves to Satan, but they had no right to sell, nor he to buy, and Christ ignores that transaction and brings "to nought him that had the power of death, that is, the devil" (Heb 2:14), and so is able to "deliver all them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage" (Heb 2:15).
(b) Redemption by Power:
Many of the Old Testament passages about the redemption wrought on behalf of God's people illustrate this redemption by power, and the redemption by power is always founded on the redemption by price; the release follows the ransom. In the case of Israel, there was first the redemption by blood--the sprinkled blood of the Paschal Lamb which sheltered from the destroying angel (Ex 12)--and then followed the redemption by power, when by strength of hand Yahweh brought His people out from Egypt (Ex 13:14), and in His mercy led forth the people which He had redeemed (Ex 15:13).
So under the Gospel when "he hath visited and wrought redemption for his people" (Lu 1:68), He can "grant unto us that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies should serve him without fear" (Lu 1:74). It is because we have in Him our redemption through His blood that we can be delivered out of the power of darkness (Col 1:13,14).
See further, REDEEMER, REDEMPTION.
See works on New Testament Theology (Weiss, Schmid, Stevens, etc.); articles in Hastings, Dictionary of the Bible (five volumes); Hastings, Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels. Archibald M'Caig